Sewing With Plush Fabric

Plush fabric quilt backing makes quilts extra snuggly. But, they also present some challenges that you wouldn’t normally have with cotton or other fabrics. Long-arm machine quilter, Nancy Sharr, offers the following tips for working with plush fabrics. The adorable fabric in these stitched samples are from A.E. Nathan Co.’s Coral Fleece collection.

Use a new needle; a titanium 80/12 should work well. The titanium needles stay sharper longer, and don’t get as hot as other needles.

If possible, load the plush fabric so that the selvage is parallel to your leaders. This will help reduce the stretching of the plush fabric. If you cannot load parallel to selvage, don’t crank the leaders super tight, just tighten them enough so the back is smooth.